Multicontact relay



Aug. 4, 1953 Original Filed May 9, 1946 N. H. SAUNDERS ETAL MULTICONTACTRELAY 3 Sheets-Sheet l [IIIIII "l1 Hfl::::::ll

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INVEINTORS NORMAN H. SAUNDERS CLAUDE J. HACKETT JOHN I. BELLAMY BYMM 9%ATTORNEY g 4, 1953 N. H. SAUNDERS ETAL 2,647,951

MULTICONTACT RELAY 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed May 9, 1946INVENTORS: NORMAN H. SAUNDERS CLAUDE J HACKETT JOHN I. BELLAMY BM d I M7ATTORNEY Aug. 4, 1953 Original Filed May 9, 1946 N. H. SAUNDERS ETAL2,647,961 MULTICONTACT RELAY 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 7A

INVENTORS: NORMAN H. SAUNDERS CLAUDE J. HACKETT |5 JOHN I. BELLAMY |o BYATTORNEY Patented Aug. 4, 1 953 MULTICONTACT RELAY Norman H. Saunders,Chicago, Claude J. Hackett,

Oak Park, and John I.

Bellamy, Brookfield,

Ill., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Kellogg Switchboard and Supplytion of Delaware Original application Ma 668,356, now Patent N Dividegust 12, 1952.

Company, a corporay 9, 1946, Serial No. 0. 2,606,958, dated Aud and thisapplication June 20, 1950, Serial No. 171,988

Claims.

This application is a division of our application Serial No. 688,356,filed May 9, 1946, now Patent No. 2,606,958, August 12, 1952.

This invention relates to multi-contact relays.

One object is to provide an improved form of multi-contact relay whichutilizes mounting space more efficiently than heretofore, and whichpermits the relays to be mounted in rows and columns with economicalintermultipling between concerned contacts of relays in the same row, aswell as between concerned contacts of relays in the same column.

Another object is to provide suitable means for so locating andcontrolling the contact-carrying members of the relays that they requirea minimum of adjustment after assembly.

An important feature of the invention resides in the arrangement foreconomically multipling correspondin contacts of all relays in the samerow, while permitting each relay to have a plurality of columns ofcontact members arranged side by side thereon to utilize the full widthof the electromagnet. In carrying out this feature of the invention, acontact bank is provided at the rear of the row containing thin lateralconducting strips, with which the movable blades of the contact pairsare integrally formed, and appear in staggered relationship, wherebyeach column of contacts of any relay of the row is served by a separategroup of bladed conducting strips interspersed with the bladedconducting strips serving the other columns of contacts.

Accordin to a further feature of the invention, the movable blades ofany contact column are controlled by a rack resting on the armature,while the stationary blades are fixedly positioned by a rack resting ona fixed portion of the structure. Both the movable blades and thestationary blades have a bifurcate form, and the racks lie between thearms of the bifurcate portion. This construction minimizes adjustmentrequirements, and leaves the space between adjacent contact columns freeto permit ready inspection and adjustment.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear as thedescription progresses.

The accompaning drawings, comprising Figs. 1 to 9, show the constructionand arrangement of relays embodying the principles of the invention.

Fig. 1, taken along line |-l of Fig. 2, shows a top view of the relaygang shown in full in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a front view of a section of a switchboard having a number ofsimilar gangs of multistrips employed in the mounted.

contact relays mounted in a column, one such gang being shown in full.

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the apparatus of Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the apparatus of Figs. 1 to 3 as seen fromthe left generally along line 44 of Fig. 2.

Figs. 5 to 7 are bottom views of the three specifically diiTerent formsof movable-blade apparatus of Figs. 1 to 4, while Figs. 5A to 7A are endviews thereof.

Figs. 8 and 8A are a bottom view and an end view of one of thestationary-blade strips employed in the apparatus of Figs. 1 to 4.

Fig. 9 is a circuit diagram showing the vertical and horizontalinterconnections between contact blades of the relays.

Figs. 1 to 3 show a section of a switchboard on which the relay angs areadapted to be This switchboard includes a row of upright bars betweenwhich relay gangs and other associated units of apparatus may be mountedin columns. Of these upright bars, only bars II and I 2 are shown, asswitchboard construction of this type is quite common.

Between bars II and 12, any desired number of relay gangs constructedaccording to the invention can be mounted in a column. One such relaygang is shown in full front view in Fig. 2, together with a fragmentaryportion of the relay gang immediately overlying it in the column. Anysuch relay gang includes apparatus mounted on common plate I3, ofangular construction.

ends, as shown best in Fig. 2, to receive a pair of screws I4 throughwhich it is attached to uprights n and I2.

Plate 13 is made of magnetic material to serve as a common return pathfor the several relays in gang assembly thereon. In the illustratedembodiment, ten multi-contact relays I to I G comprise a gang mounted onthe common plate l3. Of these, relays 3 to 9 are omitted tion, attachedat the rear to the vertical portion of plate l3 by a screw l6. Eachrelay is further provided with an angular armature l1, held pivotally inposition by nut 18, threaded onto Each of the relays of the gan isprovided with three columns of contact blades, A, B, and C. Those forrelay l are shown at IA, IB, and IC; those for relay 2 are shown at 2A,2B, and 2C;

and those for relay If! are shown at lilA, lilB, and 00.

The contact columns IA to lilC comprise thirty laterally spaced columnsof contact-carrying blades supported at the rear in the composite bank22, and extending forwardly therefrom. It will be observed thatelectromagnets are mounted along common plate |3 very nearly in contactwith each other. The slight space between them is substantially thatrequired for mass-production manufacturing tolerance. The length of theassembly is therefore dictated substantially by the electromagnets. Thethree columns of contact blades for any relay are mounted directly abovethe electromagnet thereof, and are spaced uniformly about as closetogether as considerations of inspection and adjustment will permit.Since the contact columns on the several relays are of uniform height,the arrangement under discussion is apparently as economical of space onthe face of the switchboard as any arrangement which can be devised.

One of the major features of the invention is that multi-contact relayshaving their columns of contact members disposed in the disclosedspace-saving arrangement are nevertheless interconnected according tothe usual requirements of multi-contact relays. That is, one blade ofeach contact-blade pair of any relay is connected to the correspondingblade of each other relay of the group, or gang.

Contact bank 22 is attached to mounting plate l3 by fifteen mountingscrews 25 (one for each two columns of contact blades) which passvertically through the bank and enter threaded openings (not shown) inplate |3. Contact bank 22 comprises a pile of transverse contact-bladestrips held in place between base plate 23 and cap plate 24. Thesestrips are shown individually in end view in Fig. 4, but are not shownindividually in Figs. 2 and 3 to avoid undue crowding of lines.

It has been chosen to illustrate the relay gang as made up ofthirty-point relays; that is, of relays each of which closes thirtycircuit points on operation. Accordingly, since the previously discussedconsiderations of space economy dictate that each relay (for the chosenwidth and lateral spacing of contact blades) has three columns ofcontact blades, each column must contain ten pairs of contact blades, asis shown in Fig, 4 for column |A, the first column of relay I of thegang of ten.

Referring to Figs, 4, 8, and 8A, the top contact-blade strip in bank 22(immediately underlying cap plate 24) comprises an insulation strip 5|having thirty contact blades on the underside thereof, clipped theretoas by bent-over tabs 65, passing through locating notches in the frontand rear edges thereof. These contact blades comprise fifteen blades 63for the odd columns of the assembly, and fifteen blades 64 for the evencolumns. The blades 53 and 64 are similar except that the rear terminalextensions 66 thereof are oppositely located to provide common workingspaces (one for each pair of columns of contact blades) for theattachment, as by soldering, of vertical multipling conductors such asgroup VIA (Figs. 4 and 9). The thirty contact blades 63 and 54 carriedunderneath strip 6| provide one fixed blade for each of the thirty CO1?umns of the relay gang.

The topmost contact strip BI is underlaid by three contact strips 3|,4|, and 5| detailed respectively in Figs. 5, 6, and 7.

P fixed with strips 3|,

Strip 3| is referred to as an A strip in that the ten contact blades 36fixed therewith are so located along the strip as to appear only in theA columns, lA, 2A, and so forth, a single appearance along the strip foreach relay; strip 4| is referred to as a B strip in that the contactblades 46 attached thereto appear only in columns IB, 2B, and so forth;and strip 5| is referred to as a C strip in that the contact blades 56fixed therewith are so located as to appear only in the C columns, IC,20 and so forth. The staggered arrangement of the contact blades onthese strips is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 9.

Insulation strips 32, 42, and 52 are laid on and 4|, and 5|,respectively to keep them out of contact with each other and with theblades 63 and 54, and to hold them in alignment in the bank with respectto mounting screws 25. For example, each such insulation strip and itsunderlying conducting strip may be fixed with each other as by beingpressed together after one or the other of the parts has been coatedwith a suitable adhesive material.

Holes, such as 35 in insulation strip 32, rather snugly receive the bankscrews 25, while holes, such as 34, in the underlying conducting stripare substantially larger to avoid undesired contact with the bankscrews. End lugs 33, 43, and 53 permit external connection to be made ateither end of conducting strips 3|, 4|, and 5|.

Contact blades 38 carried on strip 3| are offset downwardly to the levelof the non-offset contact blades 46 carried by a strip 4|, while contactblades 55 carried by C strip 5| are offset upwardly to the said level,bringing the contact blades on the three strips overlying each other, asa level group, into horizontal alignment and in fixed uniformrelationship to their immediately overlying fixed blades mounted onstrip 6 i.

It will appear from the foregoing that the three contact blades carriedby the topmost strip 5| for any one of the ten relays overlie,respectively, a contact blade 36 secured to strip 3|, a contact blade 46secured to strip 4|, and a contact blade 56 secured to a strip 5|,whereby closure of the topmost contact pair of each of the three columnsof any one of the ten relays closes three separate circuit connectionsnot multipled with each other, while closure of the correspondingcontacts of any other relay connects the same horizontal strips 3|, 4|,and 5| to such conductors as are attached to the cooperating stationarycontacts thereof, fixed with the uppermost strip 6|.

The, described arrangement, including the uppermost fixed-blade strip 6|and the immediately underlying movable-blade strips 3|, 4|, and 5|,provides the three uppermost contact points for each of the ten relays.This arrangement is repeated below for each of the remaining ninecontact points in any column of any relay in the gang. The lowermostcontact strip 5| in the bank is underlaid by an insulating strip to keepit out of contact with base plate 23. v

Preferably, each of the stationary blades 63 and 54, and each of themovable blades 36, 46, and 55, is so preformed as to slope downwardlytoward the front of the relay when not supported, so as to provide therequired normal tension when the positioning racks are installed. Thatis, the contact blades shown in Fig. 4 are approximately straight merelybecause of the front-end support afforded by racks 26 and 21.

Each of the thirty columns of contact blades has a movable rack 21 (seeFigs. 1 and 4) having a vertical body portion lying between the arm ofthe bifurcate forward end portion of the contact blades. Rack 21 hasrearwardly extending lifting portions-86 which underlie the movableblade, respectively. The rack is held in position by an upstanding topportion 85 and an upstanding bottom portion 84 which enter openings 31,41, or 57 (Figs. to 7), depending upon whether the rack is serving an Acolumn, a B column, or a 0 column. Foot portion 83 of rack'21 provides abearing location on the top of the concerned armature [1, directlyunderneath the point at which the movable blades are lifted.

The rack 21 is prevented from rotating substantially aboutits ownaxis bybeing confined between the arms of the movable blades through which itpasses.

Each of the thirty columns of contact blades is provided with astationary rack 26 for supporting the forward end of the fixed blades 63or 64 in fixed relationship to mounting plate 13. Rack 26 is generallysimilar torack 2'! except that it has a foot portion 13 appropriatelylonger than the foot portion 83 and is made from material havingapproximately twice the thickness of the material from which rack 21 wasmade. p

As seen best in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, each armature I1 is cut away at HA,I13, and HG to accommodate the foot portion 13 of the three associatedstationary racks 26.

The reason for the greater thickness of fixed I racks 2 6 is that thebifurcations in both the movable-contact blades and the fixed-contactblades must be wide enough to permit rack 21 to be inserted first,followed by rack 26. As is shown best in Fig. 8, each of the fixedblades 63 and 6-2 is provided with a pair of inward extensions 10 whichare far enough apart to permit rack 27 to pass between them, but areclose enough together to permit both arms of the fixed blade to lie ontop of the concerned support members 16 fixed with rack 26. Thisconstruction of racks and contact blades permits the contact bank andattached blades to be completely assembled without racks 26 and 27,followed by the successive insertions of movable racks 21 and fixedracks 26. Since these racks can be inserted with the assembly otherwiseintact, it is obviously unnecessary to take the assembly apart toreplace any rack 26 or 21 which may become broken or otherwisedefective.

After the assembly of Figs. 1 to 4 is installed between upright bars IIand [2, along with the associated assemblies in the same column, and inadjoining columns if desired, external connections can be made to thehorizontal conductors represented by horizontal conducting strips 3|,4|, and 5|, through terminal lugs 33, 43, and 53 on either end thereof.

The stationary blades of the relays of the several installed relay gangsin the same column may next be suitably connected in multiple throughvertical conductors such as groups VI, V2, and VII) of Fig. 9,comprising ten groups such as VIA of Fig. 4, there being one such groupof ten vertical conductors for each of the thirty contact columnscarried by any assembly. These vertical conductors can be convenientlyattached to the staggered side lugs 68 (see Figs. 1 and 8) and maycomprise bare wires soldered thereto.

Finally, external conductors may be joined, as desired, to the rearterminal tabs 61 of one or more of the relay gangs multiply connected inthe same column.

relay has its coil terminals 2| located in a different position thereon,so as to underlie the first and second columns of rearwardly extendingmembers 66 in their different location with respect to the even-numberedrelays.

Operation When, for example, relay I of the relay gang of Figs. 1 to 4,and 9 is to be operated, the electromagnet i5 thereof energized, bypassing current through the Winding thereof through its rear terminals26, causing it to attract the depending portion of its armature IT. Thiscauses the horizotnal portion of the armature to rise, lifting each ofits three movable racks 21 a sufiicient distance to carry the associatedmovable blades into engagement with their respective overlying fixedblades. Preferably, the stroke of armature I1 is suflicient to lift rack21 slightly higher than is necessary to make contact, causing thebifurcate arms of the movable springs to be slightly bent under theapplied force. With a given thickness of material in the movable blades,the amount of bending with the contacts engaged is directly indicativeof the contact pressure applied.

As illustrated in Fig. 4, the fixed blades are.

somewhat thicker than the movable blades, whereby they bend less readilyunder the ap-- plied contact pressure. Additionally, the downwardtension in the fixed-contact blades (governed by the amount ofout-of-line forming as indicated in Fig. 8A) is sufiicient that thefixed blades remain firmly in engagement with their rack 26 with therelay in operated condition. Operation of the relay I connects each ofthe 36 horizontal conductors (represented by ten sets of strips 3|, 4|,and 5|, Figs. 5 to 7, and 9) to a separate one of the thirty verticalconductors VI.

When the operated relay is to be restored, deenergization of theelectromagnet I 5 thereof permits its armature I! to be returned tonormal position under the influence of the downwardly tensioned movableblades supported by movable racks 27.

We claim:

1. In an electrical contacting device, contact blades and means at therear end thereof for superposed relationship, the front portion of eachblade being of open bifurcate construction providing laterally displacedrurcations having a rack-receiving space between them, an insulatingrack lying in the rack-receiving space of all the blades, said rackbeing of a blade-like form, having its width dimension greater than thelateral displacement of said furcations, and having its thicknessdimension small enough to permit the 7 the remaining bladescorresponding respectively to said alternate ones, and means for movingthe rack endwise to bring all said alternate blades into and out ofengagement with their respectively corresponding blades.

2. In an electrical contacting device as set forth in claim 1, the saidremaining blades being fur'cate more deeply than the said alternate onesto permit the said rearwardly extending por tions of the said rack tomove freely between the furcations thereof.

3. In an electrical contacting device as set forth in claim 1, thefurcations of each of the said remaining blades extending forwardlybeyond the end of the said alternate blades, and fixed support meansseparately engaging and supporting each furcation of each said remainingblade at a point forward of the end of the iurcations of the saidalternate blades.

4. In an electrical contacting device as set forth in claim 3, the inneredge of each furcation of the said remaining blades be'rng offsetoutwardly at a given location forwardly of the end of the said alternateblades to provide a widened rackreceiving space, a support rack lying insaid widened space, said support rack being of a bladelike form, havingits width dimension greater than the lateral dimension of the widenedspace, and having its thickness dimension small enough to permit thesupport rack to be brought into the: widened space, and to be removedtherefrom, by a movement lengthwise of the contact blades, but largerthan the unwidened rack-receiving space to the rear of the widenedspace, the support rack having its rear edge serrated to providerearwardly extending support portions each underlying and unofisetportion of each furcation of a separate one of said remaining blades.

5. In anelectrical contacting device, first and second contact bladesappearing alternately, means at the rear end of the blades for supporting them separated from each other in super posed relationship, theunsupported endof' each blade being of bi'urcate construction providinglaterally displaced furcations having a rack-receiving space betweenthem, a first insulating rack lying in a rearward location in therack-receiving space of all the blades and having uniformly spacedrearwardly extending portions for respectively engaging the first bladesat a noniurcate portion thereof, the second blades being bifurcate moredeeply than the first blades to permit the first rack to move freelybetween the furcations thereof, a second insulating rack, fixed with thesupporting means, lying in a forward location in the rack-receivingspace of the second blades, the second rack having parts engaging each{creation of each second blade to hold it in a predetermined position,each rack having a thickness dimension small enough to permit the rackto be brought into its said position in the rack-receiving space, and tobe removed therefrom, by a movement of the rack lengthwise of thecontact blades, and means for moving the first rack endwise to move thefirst blades so as to bring each arm of each into and out of engagementwith the overlying furcation of an adjacent second blade.

NORMAN H. SAUNDERS. CLAUDE J. HACKETT. JOHN I. BELLAMY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 2,279,811 Baker Apr. 14, 1942 2,282,687 Vigren 'et a1 May 12,1942 2,306,355 Gensburg Dec. 22, 1942 246L360 Vincent Feb. 8, 19492,500,413 Horlacher Mar. 14, 1950 2,574,134 Vigren et a1 Nov. 6, 1951FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 67,366 Denmark Aug. 9, 1948 627,570Great Britain Aug. 11, 1949

